SciTools Understand - Code Visualization and Analysis

Understand from SciTools is a static analysis tool for maintaining, measuring and visualizing code bases.

Accessed via a streamlined Information Browser, Understand provides a comprehensive overview of your software in a quick and easy format. Rapid insight into your code base is enabled through a wide range of metrics, customisable reports, graphs, a set of dependency analysis functions and accurate search facilities. Combined with a customisable, fully-featured programming Interface, this is the best programming editor for maintaining and understanding code.

Understand runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac, with support for the following programming languages:

Ada

Assembly

COBOL

C/C++

C#

Delphi

Fortran

Java

Jovial

Pascal

PL/M

Python

VHDL

Web

How it helps

Programmers’ Editor | The editor has been designed to match the best programming editors and IDEs, but with the addition of features for maintaining and understanding code. The GUI features tabs, tab groupings and docking. The editor also has syntax colourisation, auto-completion, syntax-based collapsing and folding. A built-in ‘browse’ mode turns the editor into a web browser for code, providing a wealth of information and the file and folder comparison feature allows you to compare entities, files and folders quickly without the need for a parse. With an advanced ‘diffing’ function and the ability to customise workspaces, this provides unparalleled insight into your source code.

Code Metrics | Standard metrics can be generated, depending on the language being analysed include:

Basic Metrics

Class Count

File Count

Function Count

Ratio Comment to Code

Comment Line Count

Executable Statement Count

Code Line Count

Declarative Statement Count

Line Count

Custom Metrics

Cyclomatic Complexity

Class Coupling

Path Count

Percent Lack of Cohesion

Base Class Count

Number of Instance Methods

Max Inheritance

Weighted Methods per Class

Knots

Inherited Class Count

Further custom metrics can be developed via a full Perl API interface to the database, which includes a fully developed plug-in mechanism.

Instant Search | Using Instant Search, Understand allows you to search millions of lines of source code quickly and easily. Instant Search uses an index that is built up incrementally as files in your projects change, allowing you to search for single words and enter more complex queries using wildcard characters or Boolean logic.

Graphs & Maps | Understand provides a number of graph types, helping you to get insight into your software. These include:

Declaration Graphs

Hierarchy Graphs

Control Flow Graphs

UML Class Graphs

Dependency Graphs

Tree Maps

Reporting | Understand can generate a range of reports, which fall into the following categories:

Cross-Reference Reports

Structure Reports

Quality Reports

Metrics Reports

For more information, visit the SciTools Understand product website, here